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Any tips on the raw food diet?

11 replies

BarkingUpTheWrongTree · 26/09/2010 14:17

Hi, apologies if this has been done before!
I'd like to feed my 2 dogs on raw food and wondered if anyone here does it and how you've found it.
I know it sounds silly but I only have a smallish fridge and don't tend to have much space free, (plus I have visions of a shelf full of guts and chicken feet) Do you think it can work if you're a bit squeamish? and don't have time to go to the butchers every few days?

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lurcherlover · 26/09/2010 17:41

I haven't done it full-time but feed my dog elements of it (eg the occasional raw chicken wing as a treat). If you google the BARF diet there are loads of websites telling you how to do it. If you can handle raw meat for humans, you should be OK - you're essentially feeding them that.

rainbowinthesky · 26/09/2010 17:43

We buy it prepacked and frozen. Dont know how you could do it with a small fridge tbh. We bought a big chest freezer and keep it in the shed.

WhereTheWildThingsWere · 26/09/2010 19:17

Just a few thoughts and only my opinion.

  • If you do feed BARF I feel you should buy good quality meat, lots of people buy the cheap 'basic' supermarket stuff, which is full of antibiotics and water.
  • If you buy from a pre-packed company, good quality = high cost (ime)
  • My friends mums collie bitch died after she perforated her colon on a raw chicken bone,incedents like this are incredibly rare but they do happen.
  • If you make up your own diet you need to do the research to make sure you are feeding the right persentages of protien, carbs, fibre, vitamins and minerals.
  • You can feed mostly complete with some fresh meat and bones but not at the same meal as the digestion rates are different.
  • For me feeding a really good complete is the best way to ensure that my dog eats a very high quality properly balanced diet. Though that said I do also feed sardines, cooked meat, raw veg, herbs and fruits and goats milk but these probably only make up 10-15% of the diet.
BarkingUpTheWrongTree · 26/09/2010 19:42

Thanks for all the info, i'll think about it some more, sounds like I could do with waiting til we move house and can have a bigger fridge/freezer, I like the idea of buying frozen in bulk. Thanks againSmile

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midori1999 · 27/09/2010 00:30

You couldn't do it without a freezer really, IMO.

Look at places like Landywoods, they supply meat/bones/meaty bones as dog food. You can also buy mince with ground bone in it, so no risk of choking or other problems.

It is true that there is a small risk of problems occurring through eating bones, but there are also potential problems with kibble, such as bloat. Both are very rare, but you need to be aware of them. Personally I feel that the small risks are outweighed by the huge benefits. I personally feel that oru dogs exist on kibble, they never truly thrive on it. Most kibbles are full of grains and cereals that our dogs simply do not need, purely because they are cheap 'fillers'.

As long as you provide a variety of meats and meaty bones you shouldn't have any problems getting the balance right. Tom Lonsdale's book, 'Raw Meaty Bones' is pretty good. The BARF books are good too, but have a slightly different approach. I read both and did other research and then sort of did my own thing in the middle.

Not all dogs can tolerate bone unless it is ground either. One of my girls just can't seem to digest it and she isn't keen anyway. That, combined with the fact raw is hard to source for a reasonable price where I live meant I decided to stop. However, my friend now owns a pet shop and thinks he can source things cheaply for me, so I may well put the three that can tolerate and do like it back on raw. I have never seen my dogs look so good.

Minimu raw feeds, she can probably give much better advice and will hopefully be along soon.

BarkingUpTheWrongTree · 27/09/2010 10:13

Thanks, Midori, cost is definitely a factor and I can't afford to spend more than about a fiver a week on dog food.
I'm sure my dogs would love it though, and one of them has had skin allergies all his life which I hope would be improved, (I've tried everything else).
Will have a look at Landywoods, thanks!

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HarderToKidnap · 28/09/2010 07:19

I raw feed, have found it to be easy and my dog is loving it (although I have dedicated an entire shelf in the freezer to him....)

At first I was feeding too much bone and he was constipated, but with a little adjustment we have it working really well.

They need 5-10% of their bodyweight a day in food. Over a week it should work out at 10% bone, 5% liver, 5% non-liver organs and 80% meat. There is some debate about whether or not to feed vegetables - I don't, personally. A raw egg every week is also good if the stool gets a little hard. What helped me was to literally sit down and go, right, my dog weighs x, so he needs xkg of food a week, work out the percentages and write a daily plan - today he is having xg of meat and xg of liver. Then when I buy the stuff I cut it to size and chuck it in the freezer.

It does take some thinking about - I always have to think ahead about whether we have enough meat in the freezer. My dog is small so the costs are low - 3 lamb hearts are £1 or so in the supermarket and each one is a day's food for my dog (heart is a meaty meat, not an organ). You can also get a pack of pork loins on special usually, and a lamb breast roll is always cheap in Sainsbos and does my dog four meals. Chicken breasts are a meal (although I buy them organic), a chicken wing and some liver is a meal one day. Once you start you will get to see what will work for your dog.

I recommend the rawfeeding yahoo group mailing list. They know literally anything although there are some hardliner non-vaxers there which can be a little off putting and the whole thing is a little american, but you will get great info.

walkersmum · 28/09/2010 07:24

I do both complete and raw. Grain free Acana food, does not work out expensive on daily feed, offal from butchers or lamb breasts as

HarderToKidnap describes, and some tripe.

All my dogs are fit and healthy, good coats and teeth and never go to the vets.

dinamum · 28/09/2010 18:44

3% of bodyweight per day absolute max I am amazed that Hardertokidnap dogs can eat 10% of their body weight. For my 25kg dogs that would be 2.5kilos a dayShock

British group that has all the information you may need

link to british barf group on yahoo

Taken from intro document from Britbarf

The diet should be 80% meat, up to 10% edible bone and 10% organ of which half should be liver. We aim for a balance over time, not every meal, every day or even every week. No vegetables, fruit, grains or supplements are required.

HarderToKidnap · 28/09/2010 19:37

Doh!! I meant 1-2%!!!

BarkingUpTheWrongTree · 29/09/2010 12:41

Thanks all, am busy googling now and will check out the yahoo group too!

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